No. 31 Estrades to Pomponne
Venice, July 30, 1678.
Sir,
I have nothing new to send you, in return for what you tell me, in the letter which you did me the honour to write to me on the 13th of this month: but as soon as the Duke of Mantua shall be arrived at Casale, I shall be able to inform you precisely of the day on which the Count Matthioli will set off for Paris.
I have heard that the Duke has brought his mother back to Mantua, and that she is ill there of a fever. If God was to call her to himself, without doubt the affair of Casale would be more easy to conclude, and the execution of the treaty would be less difficult; though thus far there is no reason to doubt that in any case it will fail, if his Majesty continues always in the wish of obtaining possession of that place.
The Abbé d’Estrades.207
Notes
207 From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at Paris.